


Snug as a bug in a rug

by hopelessly_me



Category: Marvel
Genre: Bedtime Stories, Extraterrestials, Fluff, Kidfic, M/M, Parents, Soft Boys, maybe a little bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 04:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30117084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopelessly_me/pseuds/hopelessly_me
Summary: Bucky loves telling his daughter bedtime stories, especially where there is more truth behind the story than what his daughter knows.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Comments: 18
Kudos: 52
Collections: Winterhawk Bingo Round Two





	Snug as a bug in a rug

**Author's Note:**

> For my Winterhawk Bingo square I3- "Supernatural AU".

It was the end of the night and Bucky and Clint were cleaning up the living room in a comfortable quiet. There was a puzzle to roll up, toys to put away, and blankets to fold. Clint gathered all of the dishes, balancing them on his arms before he breezed by Bucky, pressing a kiss to his forehead as they both paused for a moment between them.

“I believe our little bookworm is still awake,” Clint said.

“I’ll go set her straight if you want to do the dishes,” Bucky offered.

“Please.”

Bucky rolled up his sleeves and walked down the hallway, barely cracking the door to peer inside. The small tableside lamp was on the lowest setting, casting a warm glow over the purple and pink tones in the little girl’s room. The bed covers were skewed about, the only evidence that, at one point, a tiny body had occupied the space.

With a gentle smile, Bucky walked over to the closet and opened it up, raising an eyebrow. Tucked into the corner, legs pulled up, was a little girl with crazy curls and the brightest green eyes Bucky had ever seen. In her lap was a picture book and in one hand a flashlight.

“This is cheating,” Bucky pointed out. “I think we have talked about this, Evie.” He crawled into the closet, trying to make himself small and fit, which was met with a few giggled and shoved.

“I’m not tired yet. The stars are out,” Evie protested.

“It is night time, of course the stars are out, zeeskeit,” Bucky argued lightly. “But at night we sleep so we can dream of worlds beyond the stars. Worlds like those we read in our books.” Bucky easily plucked the little girl from her spot, smiling against the giggles as he settled her into his lap. “What are we reading, little love?” he asked.

“About a lady knight rescuing her princess friend,” Evie replied. “It’s my favorite.”

“It is a good story,” Bucky confirmed. “I like the part where Annabelle’s horse nips the lad on the bum.” Evie giggled even more, her tiny body resting against Bucky’s as he held her close. “But the story will still be here tomorrow. So we need to go to sleep now.”

He bounced the little girl in his lap as he made exaggerated movements to scamper out of the closet. Evie quietly cheered and laughed, hugging the book to her chest. Once out, he set the little girl on her feet and took the book and the flashlight. He knew that he should take both items away, but there was something so enduring about knowing the little girl snuck in extra reading time that made Bucky slip the flashlight back into her vanity drawer before he got up.

“Will you tell me a story, papa?” Evie asked. Bucky made noncommittal noises as he tucked the little girl in. “The story of how you and daddy met.”

“That story, little love? But it is so boring. Nothing like your lady knights and heroic princesses,” Bucky teased before he sat down carefully next to her. He ran a hand over her head, brushing down her crazy hair. “I can tell you that story but the short version. It is getting late.”

Evie didn’t seem to mind that much. She folded her hands over her chest and snuggled just a little closer to Bucky, making his heart melt more and more by the minute. _One day I am going to miss this_ he told himself- he just hoped that day was a lot further off than what it seemed to be.

“So a few years ago, papa was very, very sad and lonely, and he needed someone to come save him,” Bucky said. “So he wished and he prayed, until there was a new star in the sky. And as the light came closer, it became brighter, and papa had to close his eyes against the harsh light. But when he reopened them, daddy was standing there, shimmering in the starlight. And daddy promised papa that things would get better, that they had to. So daddy and papa worked together, and we faced so many monsters, until one day, there was finally peace.”

Bucky sank a little in the bed, slouching and smiling. “But then one day someone approached daddy and told him it was time to go home. And that made daddy and papa very sad because they had become so close. And papa threatened daddy, told him that he was going to lock him in the basement and keep him forever if he could.”

“Mean papa,” Evie scolded lightly as she smiled.

“The meanest papa,” Bucky agreed, poking the little girl’s nose. “So when it was time to go, papa scooped daddy up into the biggest bear hug he could and he tried not to cry because he was really, _really_ going to miss daddy. But that was when daddy decided he would give up everything to stay. And he did. He gave up his entire life back home to stay with papa for as long as he can, because papa and daddy love each other that much.”

Bucky pushed the girl back gently until she was fully rested on the bed and he smoothed back her hair before he cupped her little face. “Now, daddy and papa have their princess from the stars, and their son from the earth, and it makes them both so incredibly happy. Even if their little starry eyed girl sneaks out of bed to read her books after bedtime.”

Bucky leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, lingering there for a moment, soaking this in for as long as he could. “I love that silly story, papa,” Evie said.

“I do too, princess. It’s my personal favorite,” Bucky said. “Now, it’s time to sleep tight, little princess of mine,” he said, tucking her in one final time for the night. “There. Snug as a bug in a rug. Papa loves you very, very much.”

“I love you too, papa,” Evie said. “Daddy?” she called.

Bucky looked towards the door where Clint was leaning, that peaceful smile on his face. “Hey princess.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too. Sleep tight, okay?” Clint said.

Bucky smiled and clicked the light back off, the nightlight taking over. He walked out and closed the door softly. Clint tilted his head and Bucky wordlessly looked in on his son, still fast asleep in his bed, unaware of his sister’s antics. Bucky heard Clint chuckle before he heard him shuffle away, Bucky following.

“I like how you tell the story, it is much sweeter than how it happened,” Clint commented as Bucky closed the door to their room. Bucky smiled and walked over, his hands sprawling under Clint’s shirt, tracing the familiar scars, taking in their stories. “I especially like how you leave out the part where I was an intergalactic fugitive on the run who stole the crowned princess from home.”

“Right, because you didn’t do it secretly by the queen’s request when the galactic space agency fell into corruption in order to save her life, Mr. Hero,” Bucky replied, his lips finally finding Clint’s.

It was a few short moments, heated kisses, shirts flying across the room, lazily landing wherever they pleased. Clint sat on the edge of the bed, his hands on Bucky’s waist before he looked up, his once playful expression gone away, replaced with something much more somber. “We have to tell her,” he said. “We can’t… this can’t last forever,” he said, the mood shifting.

“It can’t?” Bucky questioned, his hands tracing over patches of shimmer skin where the spell was fading away, unable to focus on both his emotions and keeping his skin up. Three years later, and Bucky was still mesmerized by the starlight glow hidden just under Clint’s human facade.

“Nat… she said the order has been restored, and that is it safe again,” Clint said, his fingers brushing along the waistband of Bucky’s boxers. “Which means her time here is rather short now. And I… and I don’t know how to say goodbye to her.”

“Goodbye to her?” Bucky asked, frowning.

“I have to choose,” Clint said. “And at the end of the day, she may miss us for some time but she will have everything she’ll ever want. But I won’t,” he explained. “When you told her that story, you said I gave it all up to be here with you. And I… I want that. I want all of this. And I can’t have that if I go back.”

Bucky was still for a moment, looking at Clint and his nervous gaze. Bucky smiled softly and ran a hand through Clint’s hair before his hand passed down his cheek and down to his chest, pushing him back, Clint slowly sliding back before he was laying down. Bucky shook his head and kissed, much less rushed and heated as before, taking his time until Clint relaxed under his fingers.

“I might… have a better idea,” Bucky said. He settled back, his weight on Clint’s thighs as the man sat up, his forehead pressed gently against Bucky’s. “Take us with you. Bennett and I.”

“I can’t ask you to-”

“You aren’t,” Bucky said. Clint started to shake his head a little, his nose brushing against Bucky’s. Bucky reached up and held his face. “Ben is young enough to adjust. And I… I can learn. I want to learn. But Evie… she’s family. We’re a family. And I don’t want her to grow up thinking she was disposable to us. So… let us come with you.”

Clint took a shaky breath and opened his eyes, more of the spell keeping his true form hidden slipping away, his eyes glowing a light blue. “It won’t be easy. People will talk.”

“People talk here,” Bucky answered. His thumbs wiped away a few tears that had fallen. “I love you, and I love this family. We can make it work, Clint. We’ve been through so much worse. All of us.”

More of the facade was breaking down, more patches of shimmering skin peeking through the tanned skin, and when the clouds parted long enough for the moon to catch it, the room danced with little shimmers of silver dancing off Clint’s skin.

Clint nodded a little, the light blue glow coming back if only for a moment before Clint got his emotions back together, the room dimming from the starlight. “Bucky, I-”

“Not right now,” Bucky said, pushing Clint back down to the bed. His fingers grazed over the one shimmering skin, now only flickering as the pressed passed by the still charged skin. “You have some time. But Clint… I need you to know you have a third option. One I thought about long and hard before I even offered it.”

Clint smiled and his hands moved to grab a hold of Bucky’s wrists loosely, pushing them down to where Bucky’s eventual destination was going to be. He licked his lips before he nodded, tearing his eyes away from Bucky to look at the ceiling. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Bucky asked.

“Okay.”


End file.
